


Say Goodbye to Yesterday

by SaraJaye



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU - Azula Joins The Gaang, Abusive Parents, Angry Azula, Angst, Family Drama, Fire Nation Royalty Is Fucked Up, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 17:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1949196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even now, Azula still resists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say Goodbye to Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> _Author's choice, author's choice, Our memories, they can be inviting / But some are altogether mighty frightening - No Doubt, Don’t Speak_
> 
> Set in [this AU](http://windsnocturne.dreamwidth.org/154223.html#cutid1).

"Let's leave Zuko and Azula alone for a while," Katara had said, but for the first time in his life he didn't _want_ to be alone. He wanted to be with his new friends, wanted to distract himself from where they were.

The group needed a place to stay while Aang finished training for his final battle with the Fire Lord, and Zuko had hastily reccommended his family's summer home. No one ever used the place anymore, Father hadn't come back since Mother disappeared. They'd be safe and they'd have real beds to sleep in. Azula hadn't objected so he'd assumed it would be okay, that maybe they'd be able to relax and pretend it was someone else's beach house.

Then they'd opened the door. A portrait of Father greeted and Azula had threatened to burn anyone who mentioned it, demanding Suki and Aang take down every other portrait before she'd set foot inside. Zuko tried to excuse it as "Azula being Azula" but everyone knew. Katara and Suki had already seen Azula's scars, and of course they all knew where _his_ came from.

"You just _had_ to go share our mutual sob story, didn't you," Azula snapped once the others had left. "Now they're all looking at us with _pity_ , those poor abused children of the Fire Lord! It was bad enough when _you_ knew Father was mistreating me, bad enough when Uncle pitied me. Now _they_ know."

"Azula, they're our _friends_." Zuko kicked at a pebble. The house hadn't been cleaned in years and it showed. "They've been our friends since we joined them after the fall of Ba Sing Se."

"They're _your_ friends, Zuzu." Azula glared at him. "I never wanted this! I just wanted to restore our reputations and go home to Father, just like we always planned. _You're_ the one who let Uncle Fuddy-Duddy get to you with all his love and peace babble."

"Azula." He sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's hard for me being here, too. But don't pretend our decision was a bad one, because if we were home right now we'd be under Father's thumb. I'd be sitting there with my poker face, pretending to be the prince he always wanted. You'd be his faithful right hand, praised for doing bad and punished with his fists for making mistakes." Azula violently shrugged his hand off and turned away, breathing heavily.

"Just stop it, Zuko," she hissed, and he knew it was hitting her harder every moment. "Yes, he hit me. Yes, he treated us both like dirt. But he was still our _father_ and _I love him._ "

"Why?!" he couldn't help shouting. "Okay, I _know_ why, but I thought joining the Avatar would give us a new lease on life. A life where we didn't have to worry about him anymore outside of helping the Avatar take him down. Where we could just be _us_ , normal teenagers with normal friends. But you still resist it, Azula. Even when you admit you're happy like this, you still resist it." Azula's shoulders shook as she swallowed and tried to steady her breathing, but she still wouldn't look at him.

"Because I remember how it _was._ I remember when Father used to smile at us, how his hands would guide ours, how he would praise us. He said I would be the greatest Firebender the world had ever seen...that you had potential despite your weakness. The vacations with him and Mother and Uncle and cousin Lu Ten." She sat down on a dusty chaise, swallowing again. "We were _happy_ back then, Zuzu. Why did it change?"

He opened his mouth, but found he didn't have an answer. Because he didn't know, either, all he remembered was the day Father turned a cold shoulder to him and Azula following his lead. Things had gone wrong long before Mother left, they'd only been a happy family for such a short time.

But he remembered, and so did she.

He sat down on the chaise next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She tensed, but didn't push him away.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "But I _do_ know how you feel right now."

"It's just too hard to be here, remembering those people and knowing we're not them anymore." She turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. "I wanted it to _stay_ that way! I wanted to keep being Father's favorite, not run away from home and join these peasants! Even if they _are_ our friends!"

"I know, Azula, but this is what it is. Destiny had other plans for us."

"Oh, not that old _destiny_ garbage again, Zuzu. Just because we're both Avatar Roku's grandchildren-"

"We _are,_ and it's our job to help Aang fix the mistake he made one hundred years ago," Zuko said firmly. "We can't let our childhood memories cloud our vision right now, he needs us. _They_ need us." Azula just shook her head, sighing a little.

"You sound like Uncle. What's next, are you going to put on a robe and drink tea while playing Pai Sho?"

"Well, we still have to teach Aang and the others how to play," Zuko said with a chuckle. Azula rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't serious, Zuzu."

"Well, you're calling me that again. Guess this means you're feeling better." He smiled, drawing her closer. "We don't need them. Not Father, not our old memories, not those attachments. For all intents and purposes, this is _our_ beach house now." At that, Azula smiled a little.

"Our beach house. I rather like the sound of that," she said, a bit smugly. "Very well, Zuzu, you win. No more pouting, no more memories. Maybe I won't even burn the old pictures."

"Good." Zuko hugged her, and since they were alone she actually hugged him back. _Anything to keep up that image of hers._ "Let's put all the old pictures in a closet and join the others on the beach."

They hid the photos in the attic, figuring nobody would bother to look up there. The house had plenty of other rooms for whatever purpose, after all.


End file.
